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I am trying to toggle num-lock on my Raspberry Pi 2 running Raspbian jessie, I need it to run during the initial CLI boot up (before <hostname> login: or startx), I have tried numlockx and setleds but none work until logged in. I already have a script that runs during boot and was hoping to incorporate it into the existing script.

In case you were wondering it is so I can have num-lock for my password.

Mr Lister
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absenthecon
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5 Answers5

7

Yup. There's a way.

  1. Open up /etc/kbd/config with your favorite editor.

  2. Search for a line that says LEDS=+num. It should be on line 67 if I'm not mistaken.

  3. Uncomment it. I assume you know how to uncomment since I think you know scripting.

  4. Profit.

Aloha
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7

While this isn't directly answering the Raspbian Jessie question, for those other Googler's who run Raspbian Stretch, which doesn't have /etc/kbd/config, here's the solution:

  • Install numlockx: sudo apt-get install numlockx
  • Edit this file: sudo nano /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/01_debian.conf
  • At the end of that file, add this line: greeter-setup-script=/usr/bin/numlockx on
  • Save the file and reboot, and you NumLock key should still be on

Sources:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=192383

which in turn cites:

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/375920/numlock-on-startup-on-linux-mint-18-2

SDsolar
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kevinmicke
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  • Good to know there is a solution for X. But sadly that does not help in Raspbian Light. :( – kwasmich May 28 '18 at 09:03
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    Note also this will not work, as per the question, "before login: or startx". It will also not work at all unless you are using lightdm (the GUI login). – goldilocks May 28 '18 at 12:25
2

/etc/kbd/config has been removed in Raspbian Stretch, but you can set the numlock state using /usr/bin/setleds instead.

For example, to enable numlock in all VTs:

#!/bin/bash
# Turn Numlock on for the TTYs:
for tty in /dev/tty[1-6]; do
    /usr/bin/setleds -D +num < "$tty";
done

You put this script in /usr/local/bin/numlock, and invoke it at boot time, for example using a systemd service (/etc/systemd/system/numlock.service):

[Unit]
Description=numlock

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/numlock
StandardInput=tty
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable the service with systemctl enable numlock.service.

Source: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=134006#p650222

crishoj
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1

On Raspbian 10 (Buster), there's a slightly easier way. In a terminal:

sudo apt install numlockx

In the default text editor, vim.tiny, or nano save the following text into the file ~/.config/autostart/NumLock.desktop:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Numlock on
Comment=Set numlock to on at logon
NoDisplay=true
Exec=numlockx on
NotShowIn=GNOME;KDE;XFCE;

That's it. This is based on how the system already configures keyboard and mouse settings.

Walf
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-4

Command line:

sed -i 's/#LEDS=+num/LEDS=+num/' '/etc/kbd/config'
Jacobm001
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Kevin Bougé
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  • How exactly does this work? How would the OP get this to run before setting the hostname and before startx? – Steve Robillard Apr 20 '16 at 22:28
  • You just run it once, it modifies the file forever. It is the programmatic equivalent to the manual steps up there. – Kevin Bougé Apr 21 '16 at 13:53
  • Most sysadmins like to know how the programs/scripts in their systems work. Serious ones audit everything that needs to run in a mission-critical environment. People also like to make sure that random scripts/commands they get online are not malicious. This is why we want to know what this does, not for us, but for the laypeople. – Aloha Nov 18 '17 at 11:59